1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a marker detection apparatus and marker detection method, and is preferably applied to a flow cytometry technique, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are methods to retrieve a target living cell from various cells, and one of them is flow cytometry. Flow cytometry uses a flow or stream: the target samples, labeled by fluorescent substances or a marker under a certain condition, are put into the flow one by one. In addition, a laser beam is directed onto the droplets of the flow at a right angle.
There is a flow cytometer that has an optical component to sort the scattered or fluorescent light (which was excited as a result of emitting the laser beam) by wavelength and then leads it to a corresponding detector to detect whether the marker exists (see Jpn. Pat. Laid-open Publication H9-508703). In this manner, the flow cytometer separates the target sample or a target cell labeled by a specific marker from other substances such as cells attached to other markers or cells with no markers.